If Nicole Richie were in college, she'd be rapidly running out of go-to excuses as to why, exactly, she didn't finish her term paper. There were those painful monthly cramps in December that purportedly prompted her to pop a Vicodin before she got busted for DUI. And then there was her March 2 hospitalization caused by an apparent bout of dehydration.

Now, her rep informs People, the rickety starlet, 25, has been diagnosed with hypoglycemia, better known as low blood sugar, which apparently accounts for her recent wooziness and general health woes while filming the fifth season of "The Simple Life."

"Four or five times she's felt really faint and almost passed out," an insider tells the mag. "She has to go into her trailer for a good part of the day."

Word of Nicole's condition comes just one day after the New York Daily News reported she "collapsed" on March 14 while filming in Malibu, Calif.

"She was taken to her trailer immediately, but she came around, so the crew didn't call an ambulance," said a mole, who also claimed "she has had trouble walking and speaking clearly" on the set (Nicole and co-star Paris Hilton are working as camp counselors this season).

The paper says Richie's health issues are causing "fresh tension" with her fickle BFF, although a rep for the show insists everything is puppies and rainbows, telling People, "Nicole has reported to work each day and the results have been fantastic."

The starlet's mouthpiece is equally optimistic about her hypoglycemia diagnosis, explaining, "[She] is taking steps to manage it."

On the plus side, Lionel's little girl has been looking infinitesimally meatier since she began dating Joel Madden in December, two months after she sought treatment to figure out why she wasn't gaining weight (she's repeatedly and vehemently denied eating-disorder whispers).

Meanwhile, the London Daily Mail is wondering whether Nicole recently packed on a few ounces -- on her face. The paper speculates she may have gone under the needle to get what it describes as a "stunning new set of bloated lips." Clever use of lip-gloss or collagen? You be the judge.

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